In recent years, the popularity of Mexican food has seen a phenomenal increase. However, the manufacture and distribution of the shells for Mexican foods, in general, has not changed. Also, the nature of the products has not changed or improved to any great degree. The same problems that plagued such products in past years, for example, taco shells, are still problems today. Some problems with shells have been their coarse, tough texture and consequently poor eating characteristics, limited ways of use and their fragility during shipping, reducing their acceptance by consumers. Some of these problems are worsened when a shell is not freshly made and has been stored for as many as 6-18 months in a distribution system. As the popularity of Mexican foods which use such shells has increased, so has the desire for improved products for preparation at home. Because improvement has not occurred to a significant degree and because of the competition from other food products of higher quality, some consumers of these shells find them less desirable and will either not buy the shells or consume less.
It is an object of the present invention to solve the problems attendant with these products to make them more acceptable for in-home preparation.
It has now been found that by manufacturing a starch based shell having a controlled delaminated structure as hereinafter described and having a minimum level of total volatilizable softening agent in the product after final cooking that the above problems can be improved on and a more versatile shell which if cooked further by a consumer provides improved lightness and crispness and even more importantly, tenderness.